The Virtues of Faith
by Red Wasabi
Summary: What happens when a new force moves in on the Turtles territoty,and what if part of that new force just happens to be a female Mutant Turtle? Well the TMNT are going to learn a lesson in trust and in faith.
1. Chapter 1

Hello all! This is my second story idea, I hope someone besdies me likes it!

Disclaimer: I don't nothin'. Not even myself(I sold myself for half a brain). So it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, I don't own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.(but I can dream) By the way there is a position as my editor that is still open, any takers just email me!!

'_January was a cold month,_' There was no doubt about that in Leonardo's mind as he and his 3 brothers patrolled the rooftops of their city keeping an eye for potential crimes or Purple Dragon gang members. _'It is cold. Maybe even colder then cold, possibly freezing._' He thought sullenly. But they were honor bound to patrol these streets for the sake of the people who lived down there. Most nights it was actually relatively quiet. A purse snatching here, a taxi cab stick-up there—nothing really. That is until a few weeks ago and they started to notice a change. Less and less were they running into crimes of _any_ sort, in fact even now this whole block was silent, still as if it were afraid to make a noise, and draw attention to itself. Normally, even though this was unusual behavior for a slum in the heart of New York, they wouldn't have been worried too much. In fact everyone but Leo had been happy for the lull in crime. It meant less time patrolling and less time up there where it was so cold. Then, the other crime started. Not petty crimes, but violent ones. Murders. Over the past couple of weeks a rash of murders had been committed. All were in allies, parks, and other places that it was less then desirable to be after dark. The police so far had no leads, they just knew that whoever was killing these people was very good, a professional perhaps, leaving nothing other then the dead victims at the crimes scenes.

"Leo, there's nothing out here," Mikey began to whine, "It's cold, we've been running up here for almost 4 hours, and again there is _nothing_ out here!"

Leo held his hand up, motioning to halt. All three brothers halted in the middle of a roof top that had an alley going around one sides, a street on either side and the wall of the next building for it's fourth side. They all looked expectantly towards Leo. He was gazing out at the city that surrounded them. Minutes past in silence until finally Raph spoke up, "Uuhh Leo? Are you ok?"

Leonardo looked up with an ugly glare on his face, "No, Raphael. It is not O.K., I am not O.K. There is a violent murderer out there tonight, and Mikey here is asking if we can just forget about him and go home! There are people down there whose lives depend on us catching this criminal, and all you guys want is to go home and watch TV?!" Leo's voice got angrier and darker until her was practically just growling at the end of his rant.

Raphael reached out to touch Leo's shoulder, "Geeze Leo, you know we want this guy just as much as you do, but beatin' yourself up for not findin' him by now isn't gonna us help catch him. And neither is us freezin' to death. We've been patrollin' a long time now, maybe he just isn't out tonight."

"I'm sorry Leo, I can stand to be out here a few more hours if it means that much to you. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky tonight." Mikey said with a small apologetic smile.

Leo shook his head and sighed, "No Mikey, I'm the sorry one, it just gets to me. And I took my frustration out on you. We can go, we have been out here a--_CLUNK_!" Instantly all four brothers had their hands on their weapons. Leo made a hand sign towards the alley side of the building; they all felt a sort of excited dread bubbling inside their chests. Maybe Mikey was right, and tonight really was the night!


	2. Chapter 2

Stealthily all the turtles went to the edge of the rooftop, and carefully looked over the ledge down into the dark alley. There at the entrance of the alley was a woman who, from the looks of her Blue Domino's jacket and pony-tail, was just getting off the early morning delivery shift at the local pizza place. She looked warily down into the alleyway, unsure about the credibility of her shortcut. She hesitated for a second longer, then seemed to make up her mind and while clutching her jacket tighter around her began at a hurried pace her journey through the alleyway. Unbeknownst to her, four turtles watched form the rooftops determined to see her safely through the alley. As she got close the middle of the alleyway where the shadows were the deepest, there was movement amongst the shadows.

"Hey Girlie, where you goin' so fast?" A rather sketchy young man said as he stepped out from an alcove that was next to a full dumpster. The turtles on the rooftop tensed, was this their guy? Leo motioned for them to wait, they had to see if he tried anything, and if he did, they would be there.

"Listen I don't want trouble, I'm just going home. Ok?" The girl said nervously as she attempted to scurry around the man, while at the same time give him a wide berth in the narrow alley.

The man cracked a slightly sick smile that made the girl shudder, and said, "Yeah, that's OK Sweet-thing, cause you see, me and my friend here don't want any trouble either, we just want a good time." He reached out and grabbed her by her hair as she passed. "And we figured you looked like you liked having a good time." Another guy stepped out from the shadows smiling just as evilly as his 'friend'. In a flash the girl found herself slammed up against the wall and dumpster.

"No, please, don't!" She began to beg and fight back as much as she could. The Turtles had seen enough, maybe this wasn't their murderer but these punks were just as bad. They got up and were about to go down and kick some rapist butt when a female voice rang out though the near lightless alleyway.

"Look! There in the sky! Faith Rewarded! They have not forsaken us!"

The two offensive punks looked up from their cringing victim and the first one shouted angrily, "Hey buddy just keep going and stay out of what isn't any of your business!" The turtles watched with fascination from their hidden view point on the roof top.

The voice replied with a smile, "It looks to me, like that girl that you were about to rape would like me to make it my business." with that said there was a blur of motion and the second thug fell to the ground with a gaping slash that went from his neck down to his belly. The first hoodlum turned around just in time to see his partner in crimes' organs spill out of his body. His face paled and he opened his mouth to scream but nothing was coming out. The girl just whimpered and pushed herself harder against the crusty dumpster and rough wall.

The turtles up on the rooftop were stunned, this had been an unexpected turn of events. Mikey leaned towards Donatello and whispered, "Geeze Donnie, did you even see that guy move? He was like a bullet!" Donatello turned and gave Mikey a withering stare.

"Uh Mikey, this guy just slaughtered a guy by gutting him like a fish, and all you are focused on is how fast he was able to move while doing that? Do you see the problem you are having here?"

"Freakin' A! Shut up you morons!" Raphael whispered harshly, "If this our the guy we've been trying to catch, then you two are going to blow our cover while you sit and have a chat about his abilities!"

Leo added in with a hushed voice, "Raph's right guys, we need to stay as silent as possible right now. We've seen just how fast and skilled this guy is. We don't want any trouble with him until it's on our terms." with that Leo turned back to the action going down in the dim alleyway.

The first man was currently on the ground weeping and begging for mercy from the disembodied voice," Please I—we were just going to—please, mercy! Mercy!"

"Oh shut up! I'm not going to kill you—tonight. I'm leaving you alive for one reason and one reason only, so listen up cause depending on how well you complete the job I give you, is going to be the deciding factor in how long you have left to live." The man stopped crying and became very silent. "This is your job, listen now, get this right. You are now a disciple of Master Saiz and you live only because of his blessed mercy. Go forth and spread the word that this area, from 47th to Laridman Ave, is Saiz territory. Go now!" The voice hissed. The man got up and without a second glance at his fallen comrade or the girl they had been about to victimize he ran out of the alley as fast as his legs could take him.

The Dominos girl was still down there in the alley crouched between the dumpster and wall, next to the gutted body of the would have been rapist. She was hiding her face in the wall and rocking back and forth crying, when she heard a voice that came from right beside of her, "Oh little Mama, it's ok now you don't have to be afraid of anything."

Surprised the girl stopped crying and whispered fearfully, "Are you going to kill me too?"

The voice chuckled and said gently, "No Little One, I'm not going to harm you at all, I wouldn't harm a mother to be."

The girl gasped aloud and turned to face the person talking to her, but found no one there. "How did you know? I'm not showing, and I haven't told anyone yet!" She stated. "Where are you, I can't see you..."

Across the alleyway there was a movement in the shadows that was almost undetectable and the Voice said with a frown, "Don't worry about being able to see me, the important thing is that you need to get home right now and rest isn't it, Sweetheart? You live around here don't you? Yes, I think I recognize your face you live the in the brick buildings, the next block over don't you?" The girl looked confused for a second, then slowly her body went slack and her eyes became glazed. As the shadow stepped out from its' hiding place, Michelangelo shifted slightly and brought one of his knees down from crouching position down to kneeling. The figure tensed and turned up to glance at the rooftop where the brothers were spying. Leo stopped breathing as he could feel her eyes lock with his, a feeling of terror washed over him, and then as quick as it had come, it subsided in to a feeling of peace. The figure shrugged its' shoulders and crossing the narrow alley picked up the lax body of the girl. Holding the girl's head close to it's hooded face it whispered, "Don't remember the evil which almost took place in this alleyway tonight, only remember this, should you ever need any help of any kind, ask around the streets for Master Saiz, say that Momo sent you." With those words the mysterious figure turned to take the girl who was now almost completely unconscious, back into the shadows and disappeared.

Raphael hit the roof ledge and swore, "Holy Shit. That was our guy!"

Donatello looked at with Raphael one eye raised and said, "You know, judging from the voice and build, I'd say that was probably our _girl_, Raph."

"You mean this entire time us, the police, and everyone else has been searching for a crazy guy, and what we _should_ have been looking for was a crazy chick?" Raph said incredulously.

Michealangelo had been silent so far during this repartee between Donatello and Raphael when suddenly he spoke up, "She or he, it doesn't matter; is it really evil? I mean she just prevented a girl, a pregnant one even, from getting rapped. Maybe she did kill someone to do it, but... is killing someone like that really an evil?" He looked towards Leo for guidance. Leo had kept strangely quiet through out the entire exchange since the figure had offered help the expectant mother. His eyes were lost and he looked as if he was a million miles away from the rooftop and his brothers.

"Uuhh Leo? Anybody Home?" Raphael joked as he reached a fist over to knock on Leo's head.

Leo snapped from his daze and look quizzically at his brothers, "What did you say, Raph?" He asked slightly dazed sounding.

The brothers looked worriedly almost themselves, "It was nuthin' Leo, I was just messin' with you." Raph said gruffly.

Leo looked slightly confused as if they had just told a joke he didn't quite catch, "Alright then, I think we should call it a night and go back to the lair."

"But what about the killer?" Donatello gently prodded.

Leonardo's eyes got a funny look in them, "If that was our killer then I think—no I know—she will find us. We won't have to search for her anymore."

"But Leo how do you know—" Mickey started to ask but was cut off by a shake of a head from Donatello.

"Leo's right for tonight let's just go home, tomorrow we will deal with this"

All four Turtle Brothers Got up and stretched the kinks out of their legs and began the race back homeward.


	3. Chapter 3

Top of Form 1

O.k.!! Here it is! The newly re-vamped third chappy! 3!! 

The moon gave off little light as Donatello and Michelangelo darted through the long shadows that stretched across the lonely rooftops.

"Come on Mikey! Keep up!" Donatello urged. He and Michelangelo were patrolling tonight, having lost the rock, paper, scissors game. '_Maybe we could stop off at the Junkyard before when we're finished tonight,_' Don thought happily, beginning to day dream of all the wonderful goodies he could salvage from the junkyard.

"Hey Don!" Mikey called urgently "I think that something is going on over there..." Mikey pointed to a rooftop that was a little ways from them.

Donatello turned in the direction of his brothers' finger and could see that three roofs away, Mikey was right. The shapes of many people leaping about and strange flashes of light could be seen. His eyes narrowed in suspicion, '_Something indeed..._' he thought with apprehension.

Michelangelo clapped his hands and grinned cheekily at Donatello before asking, "Don't you suppose that who ever is having that obviously roaring party would notice two extra guests?"

Donatello grinned back "You know Mikey, I bet they wouldn't..." they both looked at each other for a moment longer before sprinting off towards the rooftop 'party'.

Donatello couldn't help but begin to feel excitement bubble up inside him as he neared the rooftop brawl. He chuckled in to the wind, '_It's been son long since we've fought anything but each other!_' Don turned his head to glance back at Mikey who was a few paces behind him. He was please to see that Mikey's face was just as flushed and excited as he was sure his was. 

One roof away from the fray, Donatello halted without any warning causing Mikey to crash into the back of his shell. 

"Geez Donnie!" Mikey whined rubbing his snout, "You should really warn a fellow turtle before you just stop out of no where like that." 

Donatello frowned and shook his head. Pointing his finger, he said, "Mikey, what's wrong with this picture?" 

There on the opposite rooftop was a scene that came straight out of one of Raph's war video games. The bodies of The Foot lay trampled in various states of death while all around them raged a battle in which no definite enemy could be identified. Michelangelo stared hard at the fighting ninja, trying to discern why they were fighting and killing each other. As he watched one very skilled ninja dodge a lethal blow from another, it dawned on him, "Donnie, they're two different groups."

"What are you talking about?" Don queried. 

Michelangelo pointed towards the warring ninjas, "Look see those two that are fighting right there, one has a sash and the other doesn't. They are all like that; it's the sashes fighting the non-sashes! But the real question is, why are these particular Foot clan members so fashion conscious that they'd go so far as to kill their own members over something as simple as an accessories disagreement?" Mikey said with a mock serious voice. 

Donatello shook his head trust Mikey to find the humor in carnage. Looking back at the feuding ninja he could only offer one explanation, "Maybe, it's some kind of civil war or schism within The Foot, I can't think of any other reason then a power coupe taking place that would make them risk an open battle like this..." 

Mikey frowned, "Well...what should we do? Do we go in and fight...or leave?" 

"I say we don't get involved. It's the foot clans' problem and we don't owe them any favors, but we should probably stay here just in case civilians somehow get dragged into their mess." Donatello decided.

"OK by me Bro, just tell me if we are going to do anything different." 

Without warning, a flash-bang exploded sending several of the ninja flying. A dominant figure finally emerged from the battle. The figure was cloaked but Donatello could tell the person underneath it was petite. That fact however, by no means reflected their fighting style. The figure was viciously cutting through enemies without a hesitation. It seemed to have an endless arsenal beneath its cloak. When one weapon was lost or broke, another almost immediately appeared from underneath the cloak, or if it was more convenient the figure would take a weapon from one of the many bodies littering the rooftop. 

"Hey Don, does that cloak look familiar to you?" Mikey questioned.

Donatello looked closely at the cloaked figure currently tearing apart three enemy ninja at a time. It dawned on him, "The cloaked figure in the alleyway! The one that killed that man! That's her!" 

While he was speaking a sash-less ninja came up behind the cloaked figure with an upraised sword, clearly intending to bring it down through the head the cloaked figure. Without thinking Michelangelo cried out, "Hey! Behind You!" The figure whipped her head around just in time to spare herself an extra hole in her neck, but not fast enough to keep the cloaks hood safe from harm. The sword ripped through and cut all the way down leaving the cloak in two separate pieces that fell from the body of the skilled ninja.  
Michelangelo and Donatello gasped in shock. The body underneath the cloak wasn't a fleshy pink human body like they had been expecting. No, it was a toned, very green, very female turtle body!! The female turtle didn't even spare them a second glance, instead she instantly responded to the loss of her cloak by gutting the ninja responsible for damaging it. She turned back towards the stunned brothers across the way and winked before spinning back around and paring with another ninja that was trying to sneak up on her. The female turtle began to tear into her enemies with a new vengeance that Donatello could only surmise stemmed from the loss of her cloak. 

'Doesn't she realize that's she's running out of enemies?' Donatello wondered. It seemed as if the female turtle had lost control and was bound and determined to finish the fight at all costs, her enemies or herself be damned. Micheangelo leaned forward as squinted at the feminine figure that was now on the other side of her rooftop he cocked his head and poked Donatello in the arm before saying, "I can't tell is she crying? Or smiling?"

Donatello shook away his thoughts and squinted over at the girl turtle, who was finishing three of her enemies in one blurry move. "I...think, it's both Mikey...What kind of person cries and laughs while slaughtering their enemies?" Donatello wondered aloud, "I hope we didn't save some kind of monster..." 

Michelangelo gave him a funny look, "What do you mean a monster?" He asked tentatively?

Don shook his head "Look at her, she is maiming and slaughtering people, even if they're her enemies, she shouldn't look like she enjoys it so much..." At that moment the female turtle spun around and sent a dark scowl in the brother's direction. 

"You don't suppose she heard us do you Donnie?" Mikey joked weakly. The female turtle began racing towards them, leaping over the injured and trampling the dead. 

Don's face turned a pasty green as he reached for his weapon to counter her attack, "Think she did, Mikey!" He raised his Bo staff to par with the blow of tonfa that she wielded at the moment. 

Michelangelo gasped, "Donnie no!" 

To Donatello's shock she blocked his blow completely and instead of retaliating against him like he had predicted, she stabbed towards the air at the right side of his head. In that split second, Michelangelo reached out and yanked Donatello's arm, pulling him behind himself. They both stepped back as the body, and weapon of a Foot ninja, who had been sneaking up on them with surprising stealth. The ninja now however was not going to be sneaking up on anyone; the female turtle's tonfa blow had done its job. The ninja's face was, even behind his mask, noticeably misshapen. The ninja let out a groan before going into shock. 

The female turtle quickly stepped over the body of the dying ninja and as Donatello and Michelangelo watched on in horror proceeded to take a switchblade out from somewhere in the recesses of her side shell and was about to bring it down across the injured ninja's neck when Mikey cried out, "What are you doing?! Stop that, can't you see he isn't going to fight back anymore?" The female turtle turned and looked up at Michelangelo with dark and wild eyes. For a second Michelangelo could see an internal struggle between her blood lust and something else rise up. In an instant, the battle was hidden, but Michelangelo could already tell who had won the fight, the female turtle popped her knife back into its cover, then stood up, and offered him a shaky smile.

Donatello instantly relaxed, _'At least she had the restraint to not kill a man who no longer defend himself he thought, maybe there was hope for her.'_ The female turtle turned around to observe the now finished battle on the other rooftop, the sashed ninja were milling about checking for survivors among their own, and dispatching those who were still alive but on the enemy side. The female turtle gave a low whistle, and almost instantly a sashed ninja appeared at her feet.

"Make sure the wounded are tended to promptly. Contact the main house to have our dead picked up and buried properly," The Female Turtle dictated to the groveling ninja.

"And what should we do with our enemies remains, Lady?" the ninja asked quietly. 

The female turtle smiled crookedly, "Gather them up, and deliver their carcasses to Karai. Let her see what happens when she challenges the House of Saiz!" The ninja tapped his head to the ground twice, then leaped back across the gap to deliver their bosses message to the others.

The Female turtle turned to face the brothers, and smiled a genuinely sweet smile. "Please don't think that we go out of our way to kill our rivals, they attacked us first. We were merely defending ourselves." She stood there waiting, and thinking, '_So, what will it be, will you condemn me, or console me?_'

Donatello stared at the new Turtle. There was something about her that was familiar, but he couldn't place it just yet...something though...

Michelangelo slowly stepped forward to greet and introduce himself to the turtle who smiling on the outside but waiting to be condemned on the inside.

"Hi Dudette! I'm Michelangelo, but you can call me, Lover." He chirped with slightly forced enthusiasm obviously trying to lighten the mood.

Donatello couldn't help but flinch at Mickey's perky voice, '_She's probably going to be gravely insulted at us now, and try to kill us. I wonder if it's not too late to denounce Mikey as my brother..._'

To Donatello's surprise the girl turtle threw her head back and laughed uproariously. Then stepping forward she introduced herself while still giggling, "Wow, no one has ever introduced themselves to me like that before. You're OK. My name is Iyatsumo, but if I had friends, they'd call me Momo." She turned towards Donatello, "So do you have a name or should I just call you my lover too?" she said with a suggestive Lear.

Donatello blushed dark red, then he said sheepishly, "My name's Donatello, but most of the time I'm called Don or Donnie. And Michelangelo over there he's usually called Mikey, not Lover."

Momo grinned and winked at Michelangelo, "Oh it's OK, I might wanna call him my Lover..." This time it was Michelangelo's turn to blush thinking that maybe his rash offer had been taken up. Momo began to giggle and then laughed once more, "Boy you guys should see your faces, you'd put tomatoes to shame! Don't worry darling I was only joking, I don't expect anything from you the night we meet...but tomorrow night..." She looked at Michelangelo with a devilish gleam in her eyes.

Michelangelo now understanding that this was all just a joke opened his mouth to reply when Donatello broke in, "What connection do you have with the name 'Saiz'?"

Momo searched Donatello's face trying to detect any malice behind his question, finding none, she replied simply, "He is my Lord, my Master, and my Father."

Donatello's eyes narrowed, "Are you aware that he is possibly responsible for several murders that have taken place over the last few months?" Michelangelo tensed expecting Momo to vehemently deny Don's claims or to become angry.

"Yes, I know he's responsible for many of those deaths." She replied without any hesitation.

"And that doesn't bother you at all? He's killing innocent people!" Donatello said, his voice beginning to peak with anger. Momo stiffened and she glared harshly at Donatello. 

"'Innocent people?' You call rapists, drug dealers, child molesters, slave traders...You count them among the innocent?" Who may I ask then is a criminal in your book?! The nuns, school teachers? Or maybe the firemen!? Don't you understand what we're doing here? We are ridding the world of these people...I refuse to believe that there is anything wrong with that." She said this with a low resolute voice while looking squarely into Donatello's eyes.

Michelangelo looked between the two turtles who were locked in an angry eye contest with each other, "Hey guys, we're not enemies here, just chill out—both of you." Momo gave one last hard glance towards Donatello before looking over to Michelangelo with a lighter aura in place.

"Thank you...Mikey, for alerting me during the battle. I may just owe you my life." She said genuinely, bowing towards him she straightened up and continued, "You saved my life, for that I am eternally grateful. I can never fully re-pay you, but I can offer you a promise, should you ever need anything, ever at all in your entire life, I will do my best to make sure you get it."

Michelangelo's face crinkled up and he said with a cheeky grin, "Well, right now I could sure go for some pizza..." He glanced towards Momo out of the corner of his eye. For a moment she looked dumbfounded, then laughing she pulled something out of the side of her shell again, this time it was a sharpie.

"Give me your arm," she said looking at Michelangelo. Slowly he extended his arms out towards her, grasping his arm in one hand and twirling the sharpie in the other, she quickly scrawled a phone number down. Releasing his arm and clicking her sharpie back into its cover, she beamed at him and said, "Like I said, whatever you want whenever. Just call this number and you'll have pizza. Free. No matter what the time of day or night, or anything. Just say my name and it's yours."

"Is there a catch?" Donatello asked suspiciously.

Momo turned to glare at him once more, "Yes, the pizza will be poisoned. As I'm too tired to kill you both right now, I've concocted a brilliant, but overly intricate scheme involving the local pizza delivery place and a can of cyanide." She countered flatly.

"Look, I don't have anything against you. It's this Master Saiz that I have a problem with." Donatello said trying to sound as if he weren't trying to pick a fight.

Momo smiled pleasantly at him, and in a stiff voice replied, "You have a problem with Master Saiz, you have a problem with me." _Bink_! _Bink_! _Bink_! A metallic bracelet around her wrist began to glow and make noise. Momo looked at her wrist and grimaced, then spun around to leave.

"Wait!" Mikey called out. "How will we be able to contact you?"

Momo glanced back at him and with a soft voice replied, "If I want you, I'll find you." then she was gone. 

Well how didja like the new and improve thrid chappy? I personally think it is great...but then I am rather biased! o Please remeber to leave a reveiw, they are like uppers and keep me writting! BTW Do you peoples like this 3rd chappy or the original best? Loves!

Well how didja like the new and improve thrid chappy? I personally think it is great...but then I am rather biased! o Please remeber to leave a reveiw, they are like uppers and keep me writting! BTW Do you peoples like this 3rd chappy or the original best? Loves!

Bottom of Form 1


	4. Chapter 4

Hola! Beunos Nochas mine peeps! Before anything gets started here, I'd like to thank my two new editors, Reinbeauchaser

amd Zombie Cordelia!

Now onwards and upwards away!

"Then she disappeared! Just like that", finished Mikey snapping his fingers for emphasis. "It was wicked cool."

"There wasn't anything 'cool' about it Mikey. She was fleeing from the scene of a crime," grumbled Donatello, currently bent over a gutted radio he was tinkering with. Raphael and Leo sat on the beaten-up couch, listening with interest to their brothers' bickering.

"It wasn't a crime," Michelangelo said defensively," She told us what happened, it was purely self-defense. They didn't start anything."

Donatello dropped a screwdriver and as it rolled off the table he, glared at Mikey. "You're just so ready to believe that load of crap? Come on Mikey, self-defense? Iyatsumo, and whatever her ninjas call themselves, slaughtered the Foot. It went beyond self-defense. Way beyond."

Michelangelo opened his mouth to retort, but Leo turned towards him and, with a slight frown, shook his head. Then, turning to face Donatello, he said," Look Donnie, you don't know if she was telling the truth; but you also don't know if she was lying. So right now, as she hasn't shown us any ill will, let's just give her the benefit of the doubt.

Donatello frowned and was about to respond when someone cleared their throat.

Master Splinter spoke up softly from his easy chair," It is very wise my son, to walk in the middle of the road, when you do not know what lies in the ditches on either side. I think Leonardo has made a good argument."

There was a brief silence and then another voice interrupted the quiet.

"Yeah, and plus Mikey said she was one hot chick too!" Raphael said with a leer in his voice, breaking the mood of profound wisdom.

Splinter shook his head. Looking over at his rambunctious son, he grinned and said," Kids," before shuffling off to go and meditate in his room.

Donatello, putting his radio back together, made a noise of faint disgust and stiffly remarked," I still think we shouldn't trust her--or this Saiz guy...and she wasn't all that attractive Mikey."

Michelangelo once again opened his mouth to protest, but it was Raphael who cut him off this time.

"Yeah about this Saiz guy. Didja find out anything useful about him? You know Base location, what he looks like, pet peeves?" He said the last one with a slight smile.

Mikey picked up a nunchukus and began to inspect it before finally saying, "She didn't really say anything about him, except you know the lord, master, father thing.

Leo cut in. "Father? Literally or figuratively? Do you mean there could be a possibility of more mutants like her--or us?" Michelangelo cringed inwardly; he didn't want to be the one giving possible false hope to his brothers. The more questions that they asked the more painfully obvious the hole in his knowledge of Momo became.

He frowned and set his nunchukus down," I don't know, I would guess no. All the other ninjas out there last night were definitely humans. But there might be others who just weren't there at that particular fight."

Donatello gave his brother a pitying look, even though he was against the whole idea of allying with this Iyatsumo and Saiz person, he knew that it was hard for Mikey to have to answer question after question with 'I don't know'. Coming to his rescue he quietly added in," All we really know is that this Saiz guy now controls a large portion of the streets and isn't afraid to utilize fear or violence in his attempt to control them. And the other thing we know is that for lack of a better term, this Iyatsumo is just his intensely loyal enforcer."

Everyone was silent, each thinking about the endless possibilities that could arise from their kind of alliance with the House of Saiz. Good possibilities or bad, they all knew that this was an entirely different ballgame.

Bottom of Form 1


	5. Chapter 5

There was nothing he could salvage in this pile of junk, Donatello decided. Straightening up he scanned around the junkyard for another more promising pile. There! Right over in that pile he could see some kind of metal piping sticking out of a scrap pile. "That could be useful," he murmured stepping quickly from his current pile over to the new one. As he bent over to dislodge the junkyard treasure, a prickling sensation began to travel down his spine. Someone was watching him. Slowly as to not arouse suspicion Donatello took the Bo-staff from its place on his shell, and pretended to use it as leverage to the piping out of the scrap pile. Prying it free, Donatello began to turn a around scanning his environment overtly, trying to spot his assailant.

_Foosh! Foosh! Foosh!_ Three darts hit him square in the plastron. Before he even had a chance to tear them out the fluid in them had already drained into his body. Donatello started to feel dizzy and he could feel all the blood pumping through out his body with every heart beat. Stumbling over an old tire he fell to the ground with a heavy oomph! His BO-staff and piping rolling away from his weak grasp. Trying to lift himself up, Donatello gave a deep groan, his muscles felt like they were on fire. He fell back to the ground breathing heavily, a footstep sounded to the side of him. Donatello rolled his head to try to see his attacker, and the last thing he saw was the cruel face of Karai smirking down at him before everything went dark.

_Crack_! Mikey froze in half running stance. Slowly, he started up again and looked down at the cable that was wrapped around his leg, the cable that was connected to the gaming station, the gaming station that was connected to the TV that was currently on the ground with a screen full of snow. Then Mikey slowly looked at the angry turtle, the angry turtle that was named Raphael, the angry turtle named Raphael who HAD been playing Super Mario Brothers, and who just HAD the top score.

"Uuuhhh..." Mikey began to back way from Raphael, who was still clutching a controller and staring blankly at the space where the TV HAD been.

"Mikey..." Raphael snarled still not looking away from the empty TV spot.

Mikey looked hesitantly from side to side before answering "Yes?" In an innocent voice.  
In a blur of motion, Raphael lunged at Michelangelo. Knocking him on to the ground he pinned him to the lairs floor before getting him in a headlock.

Instantly, Michelangelo began to thrash around kicking and screaming out, "Leo!! Leo!! Heeelllp meeee!!! Waaahhh!!" Each of his words were punctuated with an attempt to roll Raph off his shell.

In the Dojo, Leonardo was trying to, unsuccessfully, ignore his loud brothers. With a sigh Leo dropped his legs from the lotus position and gracefully rose up. _'Time to go play mediator again,_' he sighed internally. '_Why can't they solve their own crisis without dragging me in to it?_'

"Raph, get off of Mikey!" Leo shouted at the rolling pair. "How old are you two? And still fighting like school children?" Raphael stopped his assault on Mikey and glared up at his oldest brother.

"This fight ain't got nothin' to do with you. So just keep out!" he growled out.

Leonard sighed, just what he wanted another fight with Raphael. "Look Raph, just get off of Mikey and tell me what happened." He said while rolling his eyes.

Raphael considered Leo request for a moment, then with Mikey still in a headlock simply replied, "He broke the TV, not only that but he broke the TV just as I got high score!" he bopped the back of Mikey's head once more.

Mikey, who's face was currently examining the floor of their home in much more detail the he had ever wanted, piped up in a slightly muffled voice, "But I betcha Donnie could fix it! And maybe even rescue your high score!"

Raphael looked down at his immobile younger brother, before saying, "You'd better hope he can." With that, he got off of Mikey's shell and bent over to pick up the broken TV.  
Going to Donnie's Room/laboratory, he kicked at the door, "Hey Donnie, Donnie! I got a project for you!" he yelled through the door. There was silence from beyond the door. "Donnie?" Mikey called out in soft voice.

Leo reached around Raphael and opening Don's door peeked in. Donatello's room was dark and his computer was turned off, a sure fire sign that Donatello's was not even in the lair.  
Turning to his brothers Leonardo asked, "Do you know where Don is?" Michelangelo's eyes widened in shock before saying, shakily, "He went to the junkyard...about 7 hours ago."

All the brothers tensed and looked towards Leo for guidance. They all knew that even when Donnie lost track of time, he was still never out for more then 4 hours. "Get suited up, we're going to the Junkyard." Leo said tensely.

Donatello woke up in layers; the first thing that he was aware of was a blinding pain in his temples. He slowly became more aware of the aching and pulsing plains that seemed to come from every pore of his body. With a moan he tired to roll over but found that his arms and legs were heavily restrained. He hadn't felt them before but now the stiff restraints were becoming more obvious as he could feel the sharp edge of one of them begin to cut into his right leg. Rolling back onto his shell, Donatello tried to ascertain all he could from his restrictive position. '_This is just like that training that Leo does with the blindfold. OK. Donnie-Boy try and feel out your surroundings wit your mind..._' he said to himself silently. So far he could tell it was dark. Really dark if he felt the need to be very descriptive, but he had a feeling that it wasn't going to help him any.

A blinding light suddenly flooded the room, causing Donatello to gasp in pain. It felt like the lights were gouging out his eyes! "From now on I'm going to treat Raph extra nice after he's been drinking." He groaned to himself.

"You think that was painful, Turtle?" a female voice hissed darkly from one side of the room.

Donatello attempted to crack his eyes open in the bright light, but the pain was so great that he just settled for turning his head towards the voice and replied snidely, "Wow, you must be stupid, any normal person would have already been able to come to that conclusion when the light were turned on..."

The voice hissed angrily, "You haven't even begun to feel real pain, Turtle. Trust me."  
Donatello could hear the speaker begin to shuffle around the room, he cringed inwardly as he heard the scrape of metal clamps, and the faint pops of electricity. He had jut realized that he was lying on a table, one made of metal. _'Don't give the satisfaction of hearing you scream, Donnie. Just think of your brothers, Think of Raph, he wouldn't scream..._' Donatello hoped he wouldn't either. He could feel the person step next to the bottom of his table, there was movement from them, and then the most excruciating pain he had ever felt tore through his body. His teeth clenched in and effort to stop the screams that built in his throat. Donatello could hardly think through the pain, he was barley aware that his body had gone into convulsions, and that he was screaming so loud now, that the ninjas standing guard down the hall had briefly looked down at the room that held him and their leader Karai in mild concern. Back in the room, Donatello's world had gone blissfully dark once more.


	6. Chapter 6

Iyatsumo hesitated as she reached out to grasp the doorknob of her Father's office. She'd had been halfway through her normal patrol rounds when her alert bracelet had started going off. She cringed inwardly, Master Saiz was never in a good mood when he called her in to see him mid-patrol. Thinking back on the past week she tried to recall if she'd done something wrong, coming up with nothing, she could only square her shoulders and try to prepare her self physically and mentally for the onslaught that she knew must be coming.

At that very moment, three very worried Brothers were searching the Junkyard for their purple masked brother. The junkyard echoed with their anxious cries. 

"Donatello!? Where are you?!" called out Michelangelo. His brother's calls echoed Michelangelo's own cry. 

Suddenly Raphael began to shout, "He guys, look over there by that scrap metal pile!" Racing over to the pile he had indicated Raphael bent over and gently grasped something that had almost been lost among the twisted arms of metal and garbage. Holding it up for his brothers to view, he said with a grimace, "He must have dropped it in some kind of struggle..."

Leo starred at Donatello's Bo-staff, before finally reaching out to grasp it. They all knew what kind of things would have had to have taken place in order for Donnie to leave his Bo-staff behind. Closing his eyes to hold back the tears that were prickling his eyes, he ground out in a low and angry voice, "We will find him, and if anything has happened to him...we will avenge him."

Meanwhile back in the office of Master Saiz, Iyatsumo was now sporting a swelling eye, and bruised stomach. The dark and imposing figure of Master Saiz, glared down at her from her groveling position on the ground. With a sigh he straightened his mussed clothes, and sat back down behind his desk.

Giving a hard look towards his unruly 'daughter', he said, "You realize the position you put this organization in? I did not give you permission to associate with anyone outside our local commune. Same species or not. That fact that you became indebted to one of them disgusts me. They tried to get information from you, didn't they?"

Iyatsumo flinched, she knew that he would catch her lie, if she told one, but she also knew that if she told the truth he was very likely to become enraged once again. Taking a deep breath she whispered, "They asked, but were not given anything Master."

She could hear the heavy and angry breathing of her father, she waited for the blows to once again rain down on her, but instead of hitting her, Saiz said, "You have a chance to redeem yourself...We have just been informed by one of our moles, that Karai has recently acquired one of them. Well, I don't want her to keep it. Your job is to infiltrate the Foot Headquarters and secure it, and bring it back here."

Iyatsumo, raised her head tentatively before asking in a hushed voice, "And what will we be doing with him Sir?"

"Iyatsomo, someday, you'll learn the value of holding a life debt over someone." Turning his chair around to face the window behind him, he continued, "Yes, a life debt is something that can be very valuable... You are dismissed. Leave."


	7. Chapter 7

Iyastomo's breath came out in light puffs, as she crouched in the main ventilation system of the Foot Ninja Headquarters.

'Really, they have such poor security, it's no wonder I haven't discovered anybody else sneaking around these shafts.' She thought with a disdainful air. The hardest part of getting in had, surprisingly, been the very first shaft. It was a completely vertical one, and had taken her a good twenty minutes, and almost all of her endurance training to get through. She stuck one of her lean legs out and rubbed it while bitterly thinking, 'Jeez, that does it. When I leave, it'll be through the front doors of this place!'

Pulling a small cell phone out of her shell pouch, she smiled, and flicked it open. Quickly dialing a familiar number, she waited for the person to pick up.

"Hello?" A female voice on the other end answered.

Smiling as much as she could with a bruised face, she replied, "I need to go through the main doors in exactly 20 minutes. Can that be arranged?"

The voice responded in a happy voice, "Yea sure, sweetheart, I can make dinner tonight."

"Thanks", Iyatsumo said bluntly before hanging up. It had been a wise move to place moles within Karai's organization.

Standing up, Iyatsumo, began to speed through the shafts, counting off the number of left and right turns she was making.

'Fourth right turn, and...I've found you...Oh the things you can do when you've read the building schematics!' she thought in a sing song melody.

Peering through the screen of the vent, she was greeted by the sight of an almost empty room; there strapped to a table in the middle of the room was her assignment. Popping the screen out with her knee, she hopped down to inspect him.

'It's that one jerk!' she thought, somewhat astounded. 'For the way he insulted my father, I should just leave him here to rot as Karai's plaything...' Sighing with disdain, and with the knowledge that her father expected her to bring this turtle home, she started to pull at the restraints that bound him to the table. Grunting slightly, she loosened the first one and began to work on the second.

"...Knot their damn f-ing ropes so damn tight," she moaned bitterly under her breath. Finally undoing the second restraint, she breathed a sigh of exasperation, and leaned over the captive turtle to inspect him.

She breathed in sharply, 'Karai you sadistic chit...' she thought while bring a hand up to lightly touch her own wounds.

She shook her head with disgust, she knew that her Father had a temper, and that sometimes and he allowed it to get the better of him. And usually it was her paying the price for his flaws, but in all her life, he had never beaten or tortured her as badly as Karai had done to this Turtle. He lay there unconscious, dried blood caked all over his body as if he were a macabre mime of some kind. Crinkling her snout in disgust, as she surveyed the open burns and still weeping gashes that had been made not too long ago.

Leaning over his battered face, she raised an eye ridge, and sighed in defeat, he wasn't going anywhere in his present state. She debated how to wake him, without causing further injury.

Shrugging her shoulders and bent over his face and blew hard into it.

The turtle, shifted and moaned a little, Iyatsumo's eyes lit up, 'That's a winning trick!' She should have known it all along, that trick always worked on the stubborn cats sunbathing in the courtyard at home. Blowing once more into his face, he finally cracked his eyes open.

"...You...?" He forced out weakly.

"Yes, me, I'm here to get you out. Now just sit tight, and try not to bleed all over me..." She turned half way around and began to ease him on to her back.

"Wrap your arms across my chest and put your legs here," she said impatiently while indicting her hips. Donatello gave her as much of a look as he was able too.

"Just do it...what's your name again...uuhhh Donald right?" She said finishing lamely.

"It's Donatello." He replied blankly.

"Oh. Well Donald was pretty close," she replied snidely, as she adjusted him on her shell.

Once he was properly situated on her back she stood straight up. Grabbing hold of the table to help her regain her balance, she glanced at the bloody face of her passenger, "You really should consider going on a diet after this." she said with a half smile.

Without warning an alarm began to blare, feeling Donatello tense up. She shook her head and said,

"Don't worry, that's just our signal."

Going to the door and slowly opening it, she glanced out in to the hallway. 'All clear!' she thought giddily.

Stepping out into the hallway, she began to race down the corridor heading straight for the back staircases. In a building of this height, they were only used in case the elevators were broken. Spotting the doorway to safety just a few feet away she dashed through the door, and slammed door shut.

Glancing at Donatello who ha begun to bleed again, she grimaced, 'This isn't good, I need to get him to the complex then one of our Doctors can fix him up..." she thought, worry beginning to creep up inside her mind.

She was running down the stairs at such a dangerous speed, that she didn't have time to move as to not collide with a lone foot solider coming in the stairwell from the fourth level entrance. Almost stumbling because of the added weight of her passenger, Iyatsumo managed to stay on her feet. Turning to face the ninja, she just raised her eye ridge at him in defiance. After regaining his senses and seeing that Karai's prized prisoner and the Saiz organization's best soldier, he ran at them, hoping he could take them down.

"For Honor!" He yelled as he ran head on towards Iyastumo. Smiling as he drew near, her fist whipped out with blinding speed, and stabbed his throat. Gasping the ninja fell to the ground, he made sputtering and choking noises, thrashing around on the floor in agony. Then, with one final convulsion, he was still and silent.

'There would be no honor for him tonight,' Iyatsumo thought grimly.

Starting back down the stair well at a slower speed this time, she grinned as she saw the base floor doorway come into her view.

'Soon we'll be home...uumm...Donald!' she thought with growing excitement in her chest. They were almost out!


	8. Chapter 8

'The real trick will be getting from here to there now.' Iyatsumo mused silently as she crouched hidden in the shadow of thick pillar, which she could only guess was there for opulence sake. She was waiting for the ninjas to all finally march through the doors of the basement. 

Feeling Donatello shift as she waited for the right moment to sneak out, she silently began to chant, 'Please don't groan, please don't groan, please don't groan...' he shifted once more but remained silent. 'Thank You!!' she mentally yelled to him.

'Jeez there's enough of them...' she thought with a grumble, 'That must be the 5th regiment that's passed me.' Craning her neck to see if the end of this army was coming anytime soon, her eyes brighten. There were only two more regiments that hadn't passed her hiding spot. Iyatsumo crouched back down satisfied that with the knowledge that soon The Foot would be gone and they would be able to escape.

As the last regiment passed her she swiftly followed their steps, all the while staying in the shadows, of their giant fighting machines and crates. When the last ninjas passed through the hatch of the basement, Iyatsumo quickly stepped after it, keeping in the blind spot of the last giant fighting machine.

'Lord, they really need to beef up their security.' She thought, a triumphant smirk half forming on her face. 'I've had a harder time getting in to the Post office's parking lot!'

Once they made it outside, Iyatsumo bolted down the darkened street in the other direction. 'This is the right direction ,' she thought numbly as her legs seemingly flew down the street, carefully keeping her encased in shadows. 'But that doesn't really matter right now, I just need to get some distance between us and the Foot,' she decided.

After walking about half a mile away from the Foot headquarters, Iyatsumo strayed from the streets and into a darkened alleyway that lay like a border between two brownstones. Propping Donatello up against the wall of one of them, she surveyed him, and said, "Not much of a talker right now, are ya?"

Standing up and dusting her hands off, she shrugged her shoulders and looked towards a door opposite Donatello's body. "Doesn't matter much any ways, we don't get along too well when you do talk." She finished, a slightly melancholy tone to her voice.

Going up to the side door of one of them she began to kick hard at it, and yelled, "Hey! Lou, open sesame!" A shuffling noise could be heard from behind the door now, and with it the sound of several bolts being undone. The door cracked open and a voice floated out,

"Who are you?"

Iyatsumo sighed in exasperation, "The Bogeyman Lou, I'm here to steal your scalpel and then go on a murdering rampage with it, all the while blaming you... Look Lou it's me, Momo. I need a ride back to the complex."

The door flew open at the sound of Iyatsomo's familiar voice, the look of fear on the mans' slowly melting into one of curiosity as he realized that it was not Momo who was injured, but another unfamiliar turtle. 

"Mo? What happened to you? And who is that?" He asked, brows knitting in obvious confusion.

"No time Lou, please just get us back to the complex, he needs to get medical attention there." she replied tersely as she bent down to picking Donatello up and putting him across her shoulder.

Lou glanced at the mangled face of her passenger.

"Lord! Why didn't you say so in the first place, instead of standing here gabbing at me? Let me get my keys," he said while stepping back in the darkened building. Soon Iyatsumo heard the light jingle of his keys and Lou emerged from the building and stepped out into the alleyway.

"OK, my car is parked out front, lets get you all home!" he said while hurrying towards the front of the brownstone, Iyatsumo, following at his heels.

Lou took a sidelong glance at Iyatsumo's tired and battered face before saying, "I take it there's a story behind all of this," he said while indicating her bruised face, and unconscious friend. "You gonna tell it to me or not?" He finished asking, as he opened up the side door of his van.

Iyatsumo rolled her eyes as she carefully place Donatello on the floor of the van. Climbing in next to him, she placed her hand on the sliding van door, and turned to peer up at Lou with tired eyes.

"Get in, I'll tell you all about it on the way home." She finally replied with a sleepy smile.

Donatello slowly became aware a plush cushion underneath his shell. Slowly he crack his eyes open in bemusement. 'Where am I?' he mentally groaned while shifting his sore body around so that he was lying on his side. He looked around through slitted eyes; the little cats by a little lamp across the room gave this area a homey, family kind of feeling. And from another room, he could hear the faint strains of a Swing song playing. This was definitely a place he was not familiar with. He was in what looked like the living room of a small apartment, and currently he seemed to be laying on the futon of so aforementioned apartment, covered by what looked like a Mexican blanket. Lifting the blanket up he looked down at his body and was surprised to see that all of his wounds and burns, had either been bandaged or stitched up. 'Pretty clean job too', he briefly thought.

Trying to recall what exactly might have led him to such a place, he closed his eyes once more and began to recall this past day and a half. His eyes widened painfully, wincing lightly and placing a hand to his face he looked to observe the homey room once more.

'This cannot be her home.' He thought in disbelief as his eyes wandered around the room in shock. Books filled the room, books on a multitude of subjects, from astronomy to zoology. On the walls were photographs, still life, contemporary, finger paintings. The photo that drew the most interest from Donatello had to be the one on the wall next to the doorway tat lead to the entrance hallway. It was an old photograph of a somber looking man, who had a small and adoring turtle child sitting on the ground next to his chair.

'Is that Saiz and Iyatsumo?' Donatello wondered curious, to know the origin of Saiz and Iyatsumo's relationship. It was hard for him to believe that this home, that was obviously so lived in and full of joy, was the home of the bloodthirsty monster he had seen on the rooftop so many days ago. Before this moment he would have never of been able to conceive of the idea of her having anything joyful or loving.

As he laid there soaking in this new information, he noticed a smell beginning to permeate its way through the room. Sniffing lightly his eyes nearly opened wide. 'What is that?' he thought, it was possibly the best thing that he had ever smelled, and it could only be described as dark and thick. It hung around his head enveloping his senses. And as his mouth started to water, Donatello decided, 'I must get up and find the source.'

Using his arms to prop himself up he groan aloud as he began the long process of getting up, suddenly a voice from the doorway sounded,

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, you're bound to re-open your wounds, or rip your stitches. And I sure as all get out don't want to re-do all that work." Looking in the doorway, Donatello was surprised to see that a small Mexican man, who was wearing a purple frilly apron and holding a scrub brush, was addressing him.

Noting the confused looked that had etched itself on Donatello's face the man smiled and while stepping forward to sit on the carpet next to the futon.

"I'm Lou, you don't know me, but you will. I'm the Doctor who patched you all up when you got here. I run a clinic down on G street, maybe you've heard of it." he said enthusiastically.

Donatello glanced around the room once more before looking at the 'Doctor', and asking flatly, "Where is here?" 

"Ah," Lou began, "that all depends on how you look at things. You see this is not only New York, but it is also, The United States, and North America, and The World, And the Milky Way Galaxy, and The Universe, well a part of it at least..." he finished trailing off at the end.

Donatello laid his body back down onto the futon cushion, "Please give the answer the answer that simply tells me who's house I am in", he sighed out. 

Lou smiled, "Finally an exact question. Well my dear anthropomorphic friend, you are in the home of Iyatsumo, which is part of the glorious complex that is the House of Siaz, may he live forever. Momo brought you here after she rescued you." 

"Why...How did she know I was there?" Donatello questioned, suspicion building in his voice.

"I knew because one of the moles that we have inside the Foot organization, informed me." Iyatsumo's voice scathingly replied from the doorway. Both Donatello and Lou jumped, looking in the doorway, Donatello saw a very grumpy looking Iyatsumo standing there lightly tapping her foot.

Turning her icily glare to focus completely on Donatello," I see you're awake now. Tcckk. Guess I have to feed you too huh? Damn it." She huffed angrily. Iyatsumo turned on her foot and stomped back in to the kitchen.

From the living room Lou gave a Donatello an apologizing smile and then winced as they both heard Iyatsumo mumble not so covertly, "Why don't we just open the front door and invite the whole freakin' complex, as I love to share with everyone!"

Donatello said nothing in response, he only looked up at the ceiling. What was the point of responding to her comments? They'd just get into another fight.

A clanking noise sounded in the kitchen, and Iyatsumo called out form with in, "Hey, Lou move the coffee table over, we're eating in there!" Iyatsumo emerged form the kitchen holding a steaming pan of something that made Donatello's mouth water. As she set it down his stomach growled loudly and she looked at him with a raised eye ridge. "Hungry are you?" 

Donatello glowered at her condescending tone, "No, my stomach is just screaming in fright over the prospect of eating something that's probably been poisoned by you." he sharply retorted.

"It's not poisoned Stupid, why would I poison something that I'm going to eat too? I don't even care if you eat or not, more for me. The only reason you're still alive is because my father doesn't want you dead, yet." Iyatsumo bit out.

"Ah! So your murderer father does have something to do with this?!" Donatello yelled as he attempted to sit up and face her head on. 

"So help me, you had better leave my Father out of this Jerk, or I will hurt you far beyond what Karai did to you," Iyatsumo hissed out as she lifted her hand to strike Donatello across the face.

"Wait!" Lou cried out catching Iyatsumo's swinging hand in his. "Mo, ignore him, and you," he said giving a look in Donatello's direction, "you stop trying to push her buttons. For goodness sake, you two are at the dinner table, and both of you are injured, some more then others. For all our sakes, I need you to shake hands and come to at the very east a temporary truce, and if you refuse that there is always the Dojo downstairs." Lou slowly let go of Iyatsumo's hand.

Both turtles sat glaring at each other for a few minutes before finally slowly reaching their hands across the table and briefly engaging in hand contact. Slowly the dinner commenced once more, the tension in the room never relaxing.

Without warning someone began banging on the front door of Iyatsumo's apartment. Tensing, Iyatsumo resignedly went into the front hallway to unlock the door. As she left the room Lou gave Donatello a sidelong glance and whispered, "Don't interfere."

From his place on the futon Donatello heard heard her unlock the door and then step out into the hallway to insure that the person did not come into her home.

Angry muffled voices could be heard screaming at each other, from the outside, Donatello strained to hear the conversation, but could only hear bits and pieces. Something about being careless and a dead body, but not much else could be discerned from the conversation. Then the sound of a solid thunk hit the wall and shook it lightly. Donatello looked curiously over at Lou who only shook his head and getting up, went in the kitchen. As Donatello lay there listening a few more thunks sounded before the commotion in the hall went silent. Lou re-emerged from the kitchen holding an ice pack and stood by the hallway entrance waiting for Momo's return. After about a minute, the front door knob turned and Momo walked in stiffly rubbing one of her arms.

Donatello hissed as he saw the fresh bruises decorating Iyatsumo's body, reminiscent of camouflage. Glancing up and looking at both of her guests Iyatsumo, forced a big smile and said, "Big brother Rai came to visit, however I told him this wasn't a good time, too bad! Maybe we'll see him at Lunch!"

"Here out this on it baby, it should keep the swelling down some..." Iyatsumo looked up at him blankly at first then slowly she took the icepack from his hand, and placed it against her face. Shaking his head Lou sighed and said, "Look, I probably need to get back to the clinic now that it's going on 7 am, you know so I can open it up and all...Cal me if you need anymore help." with that he stepped around her and headed out the door.

Shaking her head Iyatsumo looked up suddenly towards Donatello and with big cheery smile said, "Hey you know what, right now I bet your brothers are probably back at your home. You should give them a call. You know so they don't worry about you anymore."

"What happened to you?" was all Donatello said in response.

Iyatsumo looked at him hard with a calculating stare and then turn abruptly around to get the telephone. Picking it up and walking over to him. She held it out and simply responded, "You should call your brothers."


	9. Chapter 9

"Yes, I swear on existence of all the pizzas, for the rest of my life, I'm OK." Donatello said while rolling his eyes. "No, Mikey, I promise there is no gun being put to my head. I promise." Donatello held the phone away from his ear and glared into it as Michelangelo's loud voice could still be heard crying out dramatically for him.

From her room Iyatsumo could hear Donatello's half of the conversation, she smiled as she opened her bed up and prepared her pillows for bed, '_I guess even jerk man-turtles have family that love them_.'

Walking out from her bedroom and toward the kitchen Iyatsumo glanced at Donatello who was still reassuring Michelangelo, "Tell them they can come and visit you when the sun sets."

Looking up in surprise, Donatello, relayed the message back to his brothers. '_She's being unusually cordial right now..._' he thought vaguely.

As Iyatsumo walked back through the living room, she threw a granola bar at his head and flatly said, "Eat this if you get hungry within the next 4 hours or so. I'm going to bed, you can sleep or whatever, just don't leave this apartment or wake me up." With that she left the room and tightly slammed her bedroom door shut.

'_And that was it. Sorry folks, she used up her good feelings for the day, please come back tomorrow._' He thought bitterly. '_Why is it so hard for her to just be pleasant?_' Donatello ignored the small but insistent voice in the back of his head that insisted on reminding him that maybe he was part of the attitude problem. 

Sighing, Donatello placed his granola bar on the ground, and pulled his brightly patterned ethnic blanket over his head as he rolled over to get some sleep. '_Hopefully I won't wake up in a half hour to have physco chick in there standing over me with a knife, chanting..._' he thought darkly. 

**XXXXX**

_Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee_—**_SLAM_**! Iaystumo looked over at her abused alarm clock, '_Jeez, Noon already? Damn._'

"Guess I have to get up and go teach now..." She moaned aloud while stretching out. Throwing off her covers she stretched down and began her 'morning' exercise ritual. Finishing with her last stretch, she picked a blue towel up off her floor and walked across the hallway into her small bathroom. She quickly washed herself and grabbed her towel. As she stepped out her bathroom and into the hallway she wrapped the towel around herself, and stepped out into the living room.

"Good Morning," A voice from the futon sounded.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Iyatsumo screamed out as she tried to pointlessly cover herself. "You perv! Don't look at me!" She yelled at Donatello, who was frozen on the futon. 

Recovering from his monetary shock, Donatello obligingly turned his head and stated bluntly, "You know, you DO walk around naked most of the time..."

Sniffing with inundation, Iyatsumo glared at Donatello while plucking at her towel, "That's not the same, I'm obviously coming from a very private place right now, the least you could do is not gawk at me when I walk in." 

Snorting, Donatello turned back to her and looked at her with disbelief, "You are calling me a pervert when you are the one who just walked out of the hallway in a towel? If we're going to play that way, I'm the victim here, and _you're_ the evil flasher!" 

Iyatsumo snorted, "Yeah, I'm the flasher here, Mr.-Is-Laying-Naked-on-My-Futon." she snapped back with a budding smile.

Donatello made a show of looking down at himself and lifting the blankets up before peering over at her say replying, "I'm not naked for you information, I'm natural!" 

"Ha! Natural? Well then, that's what I am too dude, that must be it." she said with a laugh while heading back in to her bedroom.

'_Jeez, that Jerk was actually semi-pleasant today, aside from the flasher comment._' she thought as she grabbed up a rather wicked looking short sword. '_This will do in class today._'

Hurrying back out into the living room, she walked over to Donatello who tensed in suspicion. Curling her snout slightly when she saw him flinch she said in a clipped voice, "You need to come with me, I don't trust you alone in here all day." she held her hands out to Donatello and waited for him to grasp them. He looked slightly warily at first and then he slowly reached out and clasped her hands.

"Where are we going?" He asked, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer.

"Hell." She flatly responded, with an annoyed look beginning to seep into her eyes. "I do have other responsibilities here you know. I'm not just useful outside the complex."

"Really, I can't imagine anyone trusting you enough with anything other than maiming the enemy." Donatello retorted, wincing as Iyatumo 'accidentally' applied little much pressure to his injured arm. 

"Well your imagination must be pretty lame then, because I'm one the instructors for the children of the complex families. Rai teaches weapons instruction in the morning, and I teach it every other Saturday and Wednesday." She answered while securing Donatello to her side.

"Today is neither Saturday nor Wednesday, so where are we going? Are you lying?" Donatello pressed urgently.

"Oh My Goodness. You are just about the most suspicious person or turtle I have ever met! You wanna know where we are going this fine Thursday afternoon? I'm taking you too a secluded closet so I can have my wicked way with you and no one will be able to here your screams." She bit out in frustration, seeing the look on Donatello's face she relented, and said in a much calmer voice, "Monday though Friday, excepting Wednesdays, I am the culinary instructor."

Donatello made a slight grimace, "You teach cooking? They trust you to cook?" he sputtered out in disbelief.

Walking towards the front door a little faster then was comfortable for him, Iyatsumo simply replied, "I can, and they do."

As they neared the front door rushing the sound of many feet rushing around in the hallway outside could be heard. Cocking her head curiously, Iyatsumo opened the door and was greeted by the sight of many of the families on her floor rushing around and talking quickly to one another. Iyatsumo reached out and grabbed a child who ran by her doorway, pulling him in she shut the door and turned towards him.

"Hi Mz.Momo!" The young boy chirped. Donatello watched closely, he wasn't sure what was going on, but if Momo was going to try anything with this child, he was going to be ready to stop her.

"Hi there Baby, can you tell me what's going on out there?" Iyatsumo asked sweetly as she bent over to look the child in the eye.

"Oh yeah! You know Rai! He killed someone! Yeah, I think they had a fight or something, and Master Saiz found out! Now he is going to be disciplined!" The boy was practically rolling on the ground in excitement by the time he was finished telling Iyatsumo.

"Oh, is that all that's going on? Well that's a let down." Iytsumo mumbled while opening the door once more and scooting the little boy back into the busy hallway. "You'd better be on time to this afternoons' lesson though, Charlie! Gossip or no gossip!" she called after the excited boy.

Looking at Donatello she shrugged and said, "Come we can take the elevator down to the kitchen levels."

They began to hurry thought the crowds of people congregating in the hallways. Donatello was surprised to see that as they passed, all the people would make gestures of respect in Iyatsumo's direction. They finally stopped at the end of the hallway in front of a pair of shiny brass elevator doors. While they stood there waiting for the evaluator to come up and get them, something nagged at the back of Donatello's mind.

_Bing_! The doors slid open and Iyatsumo stepped in carefully helping Donatello in after her, he looked around and was surprised to see that they were the only ones inside it. As the doors slid shut it suddenly clicked in Donatello's mind, '_Rai, Rai..., I have heard that name...Last night, he was the other voice._' Donatello glanced over at the bruise on Iyatsumo's face which was now a dark, and rich purple.

Noticing his stare Iyatsumo smiled nervously, and said, "I know what you're thinking, why is the elevator so empty, when the building is so obviously busy. Well the truth is...this is where I'm going to kill you!" She faked a lunge in his direction, and after seeing his face she started to laugh, "Man! You are suspicious! The real reason this elevator is empty is because it's usually only used when someone is A) Injured, B)Handicap, of C) Pregnant...and since... well you know..." She glanced shyly at Donatello, and said in a low voice, "I'm pregnant."

Donatello's eye ridges shot up and his eyes shot down to stare at Iyatsumo's noticeably flat belly, "Who?" he managed to squeak out, horror slowly dawning in his eyes. '_My God, another Iyatsumo? That cannot possibly bode well for the world!_' he thought in shock.

Then he realized that Iyatsumo was currently not breathing in the effort to not burst out in laughter. Finally she could no longer hold in her mirth, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!" Tears began to roll down her face. "You actually believed me! Oh my, Oh my. For those few seconds you were looking at me you were thinking, 'Oh God she's preggie!' Hshahahahahhah That's rich!"

Donatello's face darkened, "You're such a lair, has anyone ever informed you of that?" he bit out angrily.

Noticing a change in the atmosphere of her sort of companion Iyatsumo stopped laughing and with a cold smile answered, "Why, _yes_, many have." with that final retort Iyatsumo turned her head up to stare at the floor counter, determined to ignore the turtle she was supporting for the rest of the elevator trip. '_Yeesh, Jerk can't even handle a good joke. It's a wonder anyone wants him back._'

_Bing_! The elevator doors slide open on the 5th floor, and Iyatsumo stepped out gingerly dragging a grumpy Donatello with her, "Come Jerk, this way to the kitchen." Was the only thing she said to him.


	10. Chapter 10

"OK! Class settle down!" Iyatsumo called over the heads of thirty of the chattiest and rambunksious preteens Donatello had ever seen.

He watched as two identical boys in the back added, that he was _positive_ was not anything _remotely_ edible, their bowls of mixture. He winced internally, "Boy, am I glad I'm not going to be eating that..." he murmured quietly to himself.

These were some of the weirdest kids, _and_ recipes he had ever heard of. He was certain that Macaroni and Cheese with hot dogs in it, was _not_ called Cheesy Guts and Spleens. He was even surer of the fact that he would never eat something that was called 'Cheesy Guts and Spleens' in the first place. But these estrange little kids seemed to have been enthralled by that thought. Donatello's face scrunched up in disgust; speaking of weird little kids...he glanced over at the table nearest him.

'_Yep, that kid is still staring at me._' The staring itself wasn't what bothered him, he was used to stares. It was just that it felt like this little girl had been dissecting him with her eyes from the moment she walked in the door and saw him. Donatello turned his head fervently once more to glance in her direction. '_She's still looking at me!_' Finally he gave up trying to avoid her stare, and decided to meet it with one of his own. This lasted longer then he expected.

'_Jeez, doesn't this kid ever blink?_' He wondered as his eyes began to water in effort to not close his eyes.

"Yep! And now you all know how to make Cheesy Guts 'n' Spleens!" Iyatsumo exclaimed, clapping her hands in excitement. "Any questions?"

Several hands around the room shot up, including the hand of the little girl who Donatello was currently engaging in a staring contest with. Looking around the room, Iyatsumo chose to call on the Rocks-for-Eyes girl first.

"Sammy, what's your question?" She asked perkily.

The little girl, who Donatello now knew was named Sammy, dropped her hand but never wavered in her staring contest with Donatello, she opened her mouth and asked, "Ms. Momo, is that guy over there your husband?"

Donatello fell off his stool, _What did she just ask?_'

The class, however, exploded with similar questions, "Ms. Momo! Ms. Momo! Are you two gonna have kids?" One little boy asked, sparking another barrage of questions.

"QUIET!" Iyatsumo yelled at the top of her lungs. The class instantly stilled, unused to such antics from the normal level-headed teacher. "OK Firstly, are there any questions that don't pertain to my private life and are actually about the lesson today?" Silence reigned over the entire classroom. Iyatsumo sighed and rubbed the space between her eyes. "OK. He is not my husband, he is _not_ my lover, thank you very much Ralph. He is just a—a friend of mine, and his name is Donatello, uh..." She looked at him for help.

Standing up and facing the eager classroom, Donatello looked out at them and nervously said, "Hamato. Donatello Hamato." All the children began to squeal and chatter once more. With a slightly alarmed look in Iyatsumo's direction, he saw that her expression mirrored his own.

Clapping her hands Iyatsumo let out a shrill whistle and the class once again fell silent waiting for another announcement. "Because you are all so eager to learn today, class, we are going to do an extra work sheet!" The class groaned. "What's that I hear, you want _two_ works sheets?" Iyatsumo said raising her eye ridge.

"No! No! One is fine Ms. Momo!" The class exclaimed, panicked by the thought of extra worksheets.

"That's right. Now then, get out a pencil, and Loka, pass out these work sheets. Now class watch carefully as I educate you on the different knives and their various uses!" She chipped out, with a small and kind of scary smile—in Donatello's opinion anyway.

Donatello watched from his stool by the window, as Iyatsumo's rather strange lesson on the uses of kitchen knives continued on. '_It's strange really, she's a killing machine—I've seen her in action. But with these kids, she's their teacher, their friend. They respect her, and I think they even love her. Hmph, I wonder if they know what she does at night, if they'd love her as much if they knew..._' he wondered darkly, it wasn't that he wasn't happy to have discovered a slightly pleasant turtle in Iyatsumo, it was just every time they started to get along, he would see her again, mid-battle—going berserk—and that memory would quell any good vibes that they were having.

As he sat contemplating he noticed that an older man had come into the class room at some point of time, and was observing Iyatsumo and her class. Seeing the man look his direction, Donatello was unsure of whether to smile at the man or ask who he was and why he was there. Deciding to take the safer path, as he couldn't defend himself very well right now, Donatello smiled. The man looked vaguely surprised, but smiled back. Then he walked over to Donatello and the window.

"Hello, are you doing better?" he asked politely.

Donatello was instantly curious, '_What does this man know?_'

"I am doing better, yes, thank you for asking." Donatello answered slowly.

The man nodded, seemingly satisfied with his answer, "Your name is Donatello right?" he asked suddenly.

Tensing Donatello glanced suspiciously at the man, "Yes, how did you know?"

Feeling Donatello's mood shift, the man smiled and shook his head," No, no, friend you must not mistake me, I know only because news of a new person in the building always travels quickly here in the family complex."

Donatello debated internally whether or not to believe the man, '_I don't really know how this community works. It's better I don't make enemies right away—I already have the most annoying one._' He thought glancing over at Iyatsumo, who was currently jabbing at the air with a chef's knife; in a move that he was sure was not related to cooking in any way possible.

Following his gaze, the man's eyes took on a slightly more sinister look. "By the way," he asked causally, glancing at Donatello's face out of the corner of his eye, "Is Iyatsumo there treating you right? After all, you are a guest here."

Shaken from his observation of Iyatsumo's knife tricks, Donatello looked towards the man and replied nonchalantly, "We don't get along for the most part, but we try to tolerate each other."

"Alright! That's all for today, come back tomorrow ready to make Eyeball Stew!" The kids began to rush around and gather there belongings, and Iyatsumo turned to look in Donatello's direction. Instead seeing Donatello however her surprised eyes stayed trained on the man next to him.

"Wait! Class, we seem to have a visitor, please turn towards the windows and properly greet him." She called out to the exuberant class. The children all turned towards Donatello, he watch mystified as their eyes seemed to pop right out of their little heads.

'_Why are they acting like this? They've known I was here for the last 5 hours..._' he wondered slightly put out by all the eyes watching him.

Then all the children bowed at the waist and chanted in unison, "Good afternoon, Master Saiz!" Donatello's eyes nearly popped out of his head, he looked at the smiling man standing next to him and stared, as he dismissed the children and walked over to Iyatsumo pulling her away into a further corner.

'That's _Master Saiz? But he was pleasant, at least more so then Momo._' Donatello thought as he watched Master Saiz, and Iyatsumo discuss something.

Curious as to how Iyatsumo acted around her Master Saiz, Donatello observed them carefully. Their conversation was too low for him to hear but he could plainly see the body language. Iyatsumo he noted—who almost always confident in everything—took on a submissive stance. Her head was down and she never looked Master Saiz in the eyes. But she wasn't sacred or unhappy, that much Donatello could tell, she would every once and a while flash a quick adorning smile at her master Saiz. No, there was nothing like fear or sadness, in her aura, it was just as if—she humbled herself in his presence. Turning his attention to Master Saiz, Donatello found the opposite in his boy language. Iyatsumo's Master was standing proud and tall, talking to her as she was lower then him. But Donatello could clearly see that he was genuinely fond of her, every few minutes during their conversation he would squeeze her shoulder affectionately, or pat her head. Donatello could hardly believe that these were two of the most vicious people in New York City.

Iyatsumo bowed to her Father, "Yes, Master Saiz, we will be there." She said reverently. Master Saiz nodded his head and move towards the kitchen door, nodding once in Donatello's direction he turned and left as quietly as he had come.

Coming up to Donatello's side, Iyatsumo let out a giddy squeal.

"We have been invited to the disciplining tonight! The entire complex will be there!" She said excitement glowing in her eyes.

"Disciplining?" Donatello asked raising an eye ridge. That sounded unusual.

"Yeah, Rai is going to be publicly disciplined—as a warning, but there are always feasts prior, to the main event. I've never gotten to go to one because I have always had to go on patrol! It's so exciting!" She babbled out, looking like a child who was just told Christmas was coming early.

Donatello said nothing for a moment before saying quietly, "My brothers were supposed to be coming for me tonight." He looked at Iyatsumo with questioning eyes.

Iyatsumo's mouth formed a small O. She was silent for a moment before she chipped up, "Well then, they can come too! After all the whole family is supposed to be there!"

'_The whole family?_' Donatello thought, '_Does she consider us part of her family? I guess...that, that wouldn't be so bad__...if that thought in itself wasn't terrifying in it's own right.'_

Standing up, he looked at her with a hard to read expression and said, "We should head back up to your apartment then, if we want to be awake for the party."

"That's the spirit!" Iyatsumo cried pulling Donatello gently alongside her out the door and towards the elevator. '_I guess we can sorta get along if we try._' Iystaumo thought quietly, as they both stepped in the elevator.


	11. Chapter 11

"This is our sitting area, each family has an assigned one." Iyastumo said while indicating a semi-circle of plush looking couches that were covered in a hideous floral material. "If you just sit here someone will bring you your food, and pretty soon the entertainment should start." she continued on as the Turtles and their old Father sat down on the various couches.

"Where will you be?" Michelangelo asked raising his hand with mock seriousness. 

Iyatsumo smiled at him before replying," I'll be here foe a little while, and then my presence will be required up on the center platform. But right now, I have to g check on the food preparations, make sure everything is going smoothly, you know that kinda stuff." She finished as she began to turn and walk away. 

Stopping suddenly she turned back towards the slightly overwhelmed family, and rubbed her arm sheepishly before adding," Oh and uh, the kids here are really interested in you all, so, yeah. You're probably going to be accosted as soon as I leave so-Bye!" with that she sped away and disappeared into the throng of chattering people.

"Well, that was--interesting." Leonardo said in a nervous voice.

"Is she always like that?" Raphael added in his eyes searching the area around them furtively for any sign of Iyasumo's return.

"Yeah, she is always like that. Now you know the shell Ive been living with." Donatello said with a sigh, as he leaned back into the plush couch. 

"I like her." Michelangelo piped up," She's fun."

Splinter cleared his throat and his son's discussion ceased as they all looked expectantly towards him. He began slowly, and speaking softly said," Her aura shows no sign of ill-will and I do not feel that she is hiding something from us. Until proved otherwise, I feel we can trust her. Unless Donatello thinks differently?" He finished looking over at his bandaged son.

Donatello shrugged stiffly, his bandages straining against his movements."She rescued me, probably saved my life. I think she's annoying, but unless we're her enemies, we're safe as we could get."

The brother all nodded in agreement, so it was decided, Until further notice, Iyatsumo and her 'family' were on their side. Therefore safe. Soon the brothers began to chatter once more, embarrassing Donatello with slightly perverted question, and just being brother in generals.

Splinter quietly observed his sons as they harassed Donatello. They did not know how relieved he was to have all four of them back together once again. He supposed it was just because he was their father and he could never really see them as adults, but he could barley stand the thought of letting them go above ground without him. He didn't want to let them out of his sight, let them go. If he did, he was afraid that he may never get them back, and that's what really scared him. When Donatello had been missing, he felt completely powerless to do something, to find him, to save him. That's why he wanted so much to believe in the good intentions of these people around them. He knew better to trust good intentions, but this time, his son had met with his near death, and these people were the only reason that it hadn't been his death. That action alone was enough to inspire trust in him. Splinter was pulled from his thoughts by a gaggle of children who were peeking over the backs of their couch semi circle and giggling.

"Hi Mr. H!" A pair of rowdy sounding twin boys yelled in unison as they tumbled over the backs of the couches and between Leo and Raphael. A hushed group giggle ran thought the children who were still peeking over the back of the couches. Don and Ron would test the waters for them and they knew it.

"Hey Cool, you got swords!" Yelled Don.

"And a mask!" exclaimed Ron.

"Are you ninja?" They asked in unison. Leo was slightly nervous of these two slightly disleved boys who were fast making themselves comfortable on his lap. He was still considering what to do when he noticed Donatello making small chocking motions with his hands. 'What's that supposed to mean?' he briefly wondered.

"Uh Yes, I am." Leonardo finally said.

"Awesome! you know someday we'll be ninjas too!" The twins yelled out in unison.

That was the signal for all the other children to begin tumbling in, they came through the opening between the low table that made the border of their couch area. They came rolling down the backs of couches and perched in laps, behind heads and shoulders, and between feet.

Soon their entire area was filled with children who were all curious, and laughing.

"Mr. Hamato!, Mr. Hamato!" a little girl sitting on Michelangelo's lap, called out to Donatello, " Have you order your food yet?" 

Donatello looked blankly towards his father, and then turns his head to search his brothers faces. "Hey you're the one who's been here for longer then an 3 hours, you should know whats going on--not us." Raphael piped up as he struggled to shift underneath the weight of the growing pile of children that had come to rest on him.

Raphael's words sent a ripple of laughter thought the children. The same girl on Michelangelo's lap spoke again,"Do you want me to order your food for you Mr. Hamato?" 

"No need sweet thing," Iyatsumo broke in from beyond the confines of the ouch area. "I have already brought the food to them." With that statement she stepped on to the carpeted area and ordered the twins to bring the table over to the middle of the carpet.

As everyone sat around the table Iyatsumo face crinkled up slightly in concern as she watched Donatello slowly lower himself to the ground and make his way to the table. "You know, I'd be willing to bring your food to you, if it's too much for you too make it all the way over here. she said in a slightly disdainful tone, as if she disapproved of him so openly flinching in pain.

Donatello looked up with a small glare,"As I'm already down here, you're offer was a bit tardy. So no--Thank You." he bit out as politely as possible.

'Jeez, you could cut the tension between them with a butter knife,' Michelangelo nervously thought. 'I'd better try defuse this, before one of them actually does try to cut the other with a knife.'

"Hey! So whats for dinner Iyatsumo?" Michelangelo said cheerily as he skillfully changed the subject. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse!"

Raphael snorted and rolled his eyes,"When are you not hungry Mikey?"

"Hey for your infor--" Michelangelo started in tot defend himself, but Iyatsumo cut him off with a shrill whistle.

FWOOT! She took he fingers out of her mouth and smiled apologetically at him. "Sorry, But I figured f you were that hungry then you'd want the food to come soon rather than later." as the words were leaving her mouth a group of youth men and women pulled several carts up the the semicircle of couches and began to set dishes in front of the Iyatsumo, her guests, and the children. Next came big platters of various foods, that smelled tantalizing to the turtles. Raphael went to dip a spoon in one particularly mouth watering plate in front of him when his wrist was stopped by Leo.

Leo leaned over to whisper in Raphael's ear,"We don't' know their customs Raph, we could gravely offend someone if we start eating before the hosts. Raphael grumbled something about pompous Great Leaders under his breath, but lowered his spoon back to his plate. Even if he didn't want to admit it, Leo had a good point.

'Maybe it had been a good thing that Leo stopped me,' Raphael mused as he looked at all the other people at the table. The children had not attacked the food like he would have thought they would, but instead looked patiently towards Iyatsumo, as if awaiting a command.

In a sudden movement she clapped her hands together three times, and said loudly,"Give thanks to your Master Saiz, who without, we'd be lost." The children all clapped three times, and then looked up again at Iyatsumo, who smiled and with a slightly coy smile yelled,"Sef Hep!"

It was as if she'd given the go head command to a pack of wild--and starving dogs. The children descended on the food like locusts. It was Leonardo could do to get a spoonful of this and that with out losing a finger. Shell he'd already been bitten more times in the past minute then he'd ever been in the rest of his life. Leonardo lightly slapped the wandering hand of a small boy as he tried to steal food off of his plate. Leonardo couldn't ever a recall a time when he had had to fight for his food like this, even with 3 brothers, Master Splinter had never let them behave like this. He glanced at the rest of his family to see if they were having the same tribulations. Leonardo cracked a smile at the sight of Michelangelo who had finally just settled for stealing food off of the kids plates around him. Raphael on the other hand had taken over an entire platter and was growling viciously at the children who made a move for it. Leonardo briefly wondered if Raph knew that whenever he'd turn his head to growl at a kid on one side, the kid on the other side would steal something off his plate. Master Splinter was doing quite well, hardly anything was being taken off his plate. Leonardo supposed that the kids just didn't want to hassle an old rat. That or maybe it was the fact that his Father had decided to take mostly only the vegetable dishes. It was Donatello and Iyatsumo who were being stolen from the least though. Actually no one was stealing from their plates at all.

'How strange, I can understand why no one is trying anything with Iyatsumo, but why is Donnie being spared?' Leonoardo mused as he lifted his fork to spear something on his plate while still observing Donatello. Twink! Leonardo felt his fork hit nothing but porcelain. Looking down at his plate then around the smug children around him he couldn't help but chuckle quietly.

'Leave it to these little beasts to steal everything off my plate the 2 minutes I'm not watching it!' Leo thought with a laugh as he began planning to steal back some of his food.

R+R Please!


	12. Chapter 12

Hi!

XXXXXXXX

At the end of the meal, only a few children were still snapping at each other of the meager leftovers, when the lights in the room dimmed and everything suddenly went dark. The instantly Raphael's training kicked in and he reached for his weapons preparing for whatever might be coming. The lights that surrounded a platform in the middle of the room flickered back on and a hush fell over the room. Raphael leaned across a kid and was about to ask Leonardo what the shell was going on when one of the kids pushed back at him and whispered, "Sh, Master Saiz is going to be coming soon, and the disciplining will start."

'_Disciplining?_' Raphael wondered briefly, that didn't sound good. Briefly he recalled that Donnie had motioned something about it when they had first gotten there, but he'd been a little to distracted by the female form of Iyatsumo to really pay attention to anything that was cooing out of his brother's mouth. _'Damn, I guess I better listen next time instead being distracted by a pretty shell_.' He concluded briefly as he once again cast an appraising eye over towards Iyasumo's seat. _'Hey she's gone!_' He thought curious as to where she'd gone.

Raphael leaned down and poked the kid next to him in the head, "Hey kid, where'd Iyatsumo go?" he asked inn a loud whisper.

The girl looked up at him with an annoyed air, "She's gone to be witness for her Brother, as she is his only family, besides Master Sai, but now you have to be quiet ok?" she responded with a slight huff.

'_Ceremony, witness?_' the girl's answer had just left his with more questions. '_Damn I guess I'll really have to pay attention then,_' he thought slightly peeved as he turned his eyes to the center platform.

From the shadows around the platform a man suddenly stepped up on to the platform and walked to the center. He didn't look like anything impressive to Raphael, but he knew that looks could be deceiving. This man must be pretty important within this clan if he was up there right now. All noise in the room fell down to a deathly hush, as if everyone in the room were holding their breath waiting for something to happen. And then it did.

"We are gathered here tonight," The man started saying in a strong and commanding voice, "To see how disregard for the complex ways is punished, to remind each and everyone of ourselves the price we pay for order. And to insure that no more of us fall from grace as this person has. Bring the decedent up!" A young and angry looking young man was thrown upon the platform. Raphael was riveted to his seat with attention, were they going to fight, it sure looked like the guy on the ground wanted to. Or maybe he had the whole thing wrong and the older man was just going to chew him out on stage so that he would have to endure public humiliation. Whatever it was, Raphael was sure glad he was not on the receiving end of that older man's steely glare.

The young man on the floor turned around and kneeled forward. His hands resting on the ground before his knees. His face was now schooled into one of careful indifference as if he could careless that he was up there, and did not give a damn about what kind of punishment was coming.

'_What is going on?_' Raphael wondered, bemused as he watched the events unfold in the center of the room. '_Does he have ta apologize publicly or sumthin'?_'

The older man on the stage picked up a lash that someone had been holding out to hi off the platform. Raphael's eyes widened in realization, the word 'discipline' suddenly made all too much sense. The young man on the floor was going to be publicly whipped. The whip was an evil looking thing; it was thick at the base and tapered off into 3 separate ends. The ends had wicked balls of nettled wire knotted to them and Raphael knew with out a doubt, that those balls must be excruciatingly painful.

The older man lifter the whip above him and then brought it down hard across the back of the young man. A tortured expression of pain flashed across the young man's face but then was gone. It was replaced by a look of stonily resolve. As if to say, I may flinch, but I refuse to cry out. The blows came down faster and harder. As did the blood from his back, but only the young man's face showed any reaction. Not a sound escaped his mouth.

Finally the older man stopped striking the young man, with heavy breathes, he threw the whip from his place on the platform and yelled, "Who has been the witness to this man's punishment?"

Raphael was greatly startled when the voices of the people from all around the room rose up in unison.

"We have been witness!"

The man continued on after their response, "And who is the man's sole witness? Who will claim him now?"

A frenzy of hushed whispers floated around the room, when a voice broke out from them all, "I do!"

All faces turned to look at the person who was taking responsibility for the dissent. Raphael felt shock course through him when he saw the owner of that voice climb on to the platform. It was Iyatsumo.

She looked out at the crowd, and in a slow and stiff voice she recited the ceremonious words, "I will accept this man, all his faults and transgressions are forgiven, as he is my blood, and I his." with that she helped the thrashed young man down off the platform and they disappeared into the darkness.

When they had disappeared Donatello stood up slowly and with a painful grimace turned to address his brothers, "We're going to follow them, come fast." was all he uttered as he turned away, his mouth set in to grim line. Intrigued his brothers looked to their Father and Master for permission, when he gave a silent nod, they all moved to follow their limping brother.

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**I know I know, It's short, but my computer has been dying lately(It's 10 years old) and I just finally got it replaced.(Yay boyfriend!) But I promise that now that I have gotten a new computer I will update more regularly! I really hope that people read this message too! Luvs! Please R+R**


	13. Chapter 13

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"So why are we doing this again?" Michelangelo murmured quietly the confusion evident in his voice. Currently all four brothers were slinking through the hallways that surrounded the ceremony room, the faint sounds of merry making could still be heard echoing eerily though the cold and nearly silent hallways.

Donatello stopped short and looked at Michelangelo with a glare,"If you couldn't tell Mikey, we're trying to be kind of covert here, and you walking behind us talking kind defeats the purpose." he turned around and began walking again. Searching for the room with the tell-tale steam of light that would indicate just which one of these spare rooms Iyastumo and Rai had gone into.

Rai, now there was a name that inspired a feeling of bubbling hate inside his plastron. Donatello knew that while he didn't particularly care for, or get along with Momo, the tone of their conversation the previous night, and injury Rai had inflicted on Iyatsumo should not be something that he just ignored. 'Shouldn't and couldn't' he thought darkly, as he focused on making the echo of his footsteps sounding in the hallway nearly non-existent. He didn't want anyone to be aware of his presence until he chose them to be. He glanced back at his brothers, who though confused were still following, trusting him with their very lives if the needed. He sighed as he turned the corner, siblings should be able to trust each other with their lives, they should love each other so much that they would die for their brother, or sister, just to save them from the same fate. That was part of the reason he was going to check up on Momo, he had seen first hand how much value Rai placed on Iyatsumo before. Knowing that made him uneasy, he didn't know why, but it did. He supposed that was probably some kind of damsel in distress programming that he had, damn chivalry.

As Donatello hobbled down the nearly light-less hallway, lost in his thoughts, he almost missed the small, horizontal, glow of life streaming form the seam of a doorway. 'I found you...'

He turned to look at his bothers, bringing one thick green digit to his mouth he made the universal signal for complete silence. The last thing he need was for Iyatsumo to catch them eavesdropping on her, and her brother. He could just imagine how much and how loudly she'd chew him out.

Slowly and as quietly he turned the knob to the door and started to ease it open. Creek! Donatello winced at the sudden noise that seemed to echo across the empty hallway. Carefully he looked through the the opening trying to determine if Momo and Her brother had heard them. He peered cautiously into the dim room. His eyes alighted on a door frame that was on the the parallel wall, there was the source of all the light, he'd seen. Donatello could faintly hear the low mumble of conversation between two people. 'That must be them.'

Silently they slipped into the dim room and skillfully meddled into the long shadows that the light from the adjoining room cast around the sitting room. The quiet conversation in the next room grew louder and harsher and soon all the Brothers could easily hear what was being said.

From his place behind a fake tree next to the door, Leonardo looked into the mirror which lay on the opposite wall. It reflected into the other room and gave actions to the words he was hearing.

"I hate you." The man who had been punished publicly said harshly. He was sitting in a chair backwards, Leonardo could clearly see where the lashes had torn strips of flesh and left raw weeping wounds. Leonardo was perplexed, why didn't Iyatsumo respond to the man's barb? She had acted as if she hadn't even heard the young man's comment. Leonardo watched curiously as Iyatsumo began to apply ointment to the back of the young ma. The young man hissed in great pain and twisted his head up to scowl deeply at Iyatsumo. But before he could open his mouth to say anything she opened hers.

"I know," She began, her voice much softer than if had been when they had previously just walked in,"I know you hate me. There is no need to remind me of your feelings, as you have made them quite clear over the years. But regardless of whether you love me or not, I love you because you are my brother." as she said those words Leonardo felt his opinion of Iyatsumo increase greatly, he knew what a difficult task it was to return love for hate.

At the same time Rai stood up and sent his chair crashing roughly against the wall. He stood there breathing hard from painful wounds and anger that flashed sinisterly in his eyes. Slowly he turned around to face Iyatsumo who stood there with a stony glare on her face, still holding the ends of the crisp white bandage that was halfway around his back. In the next room the tension also flared, all the brothers, even Donatello were preparing themselves to jump into action at an given moment.

In three surprisingly quick steps Rai closed the small distance between himself and Iyatsumo. He was a good foot and a half taller than her and when he stood up against her, his face pulled back into a snarl, she looked incredibly small. But only in stature. Amazingly his fearsome gaze did nothing, and Iyatsumo never pulled her eyes away from his. His eye radiated unspoken, but incredibly felt hate as he snaked out his hand to roughly grasp her face in a mock brotherly gesture.

Squeezing her face, until Iyatsumo wanted to cry out, he looked down on her, his lip curling before finally saying,"You are not any flesh of mine. If you remember _Dear_ Freak, _my_ sister is dead. You are certainly not her. You disgust me, your body disgusts me, the fact that you have been allowed to live this long, disgusts me, and the knowledge that there are more like you out there, makes me want regurgitate my innards."

Leonardo looked oer at the darkened form of Donatello, would they go in now an break this up? Donatello made a hand signal with one hand. 'Not yet? She must be one shell of a fighter, though I still think that we should break it up now.' Leonardo thought resigning himself to watch the mirror once more.

Iyatsumo's eyes bore icily into Rai, smiling evilly at him though her face was being squeezed, she suddenly gave the end of the bandage that she still held a savage yank. Rai let out a roar of pain and wrath, as he threw Iyatsumo from himself, and stumbled a few steps. Iyatsumo slowly got up from where she had been thrown and with a smile that brought a chill to Leonardo's shell, she said," I said I love you because you are my family, but that doesn't mean that I like you. Remember that _Dear_ Brother." Leonardo felt the tendrils of unprecedented fear curl up around him when she was finished speaking, now he understood how _she _could be the terrifying warrior in battle he had been warned about.

Rai said nothing, he didn't have to, of the look of pure malevolence that glowered from his eyes said everything in a language that needed no words. Slowly he got up, holding his sides, as if he could hold all the agony and hatred inside of him by doing so. He got to the doorway before turning back to look at Iyatsumo with a stared devoid of any emotion at all and said," You're time will come, believe me." With that he turned back round and hurried off to lick his wounds in private.


End file.
